


lying by omission

by stophit



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: (sort of but not really), 5+1 Things, Alternate Universe - Office, Boss/Employee Relationship, M/M, Pre-Slash, Prompt Fill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2020-08-17
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:07:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25945570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stophit/pseuds/stophit
Summary: There's no way thatKwon Soonyoung, the tiger-loving, enthusiastic, bad-with-technology new hire, could be the camboyHoshi, right?God, it's stupid just saying it to himself. Of fucking course he is. What did Jeonghan expect when taking advice from Joshua?
Relationships: Kwon Soonyoung | Hoshi/Yoon Jeonghan
Comments: 7
Kudos: 112





	lying by omission

**Author's Note:**

  * For [joongki](https://archiveofourown.org/users/joongki/gifts).



> I love your AUs so much. Thanks for letting me tackle this one!

**5.**

Yoon Jeonghan prides himself on being an intelligent man. When it comes to people, nothing gets past him. He knows how they tick. He knows how they work. Anyone that calls him _quiet_ is sorely mistaken; he’s simply lying in wait. He’s observant, and he is _smart_ and he knows it. He’s not above underhanded tricks to get what he wants. Sure, he’s the sort of bastard that people use as an example as to why capitalism should fall, and it’s not like he disagrees—but for the time being, he’s learned how to game the system and stay there.

He knows that he sounds like he’s bragging. Maybe he is. He deserves it. He’s incredibly sharp, and anyone that hates him can’t deny that. He’ll take pride in his wits.

He’ll—he’ll fucking take pride in it. He grits his teeth, forcing all those reminders to race through his mind as he eyes the striped tabby cat plush on Soonyoung’s desk, holding a star. The third plush since he’s started working there, the first one that isn’t a tiger, and the first custom-made one to make its appearance.

And Jeonghan knows exactly _why_ he knows it’s custom-made. If he chooses to forget, his credit card bill will remind him at the end of the month, just as an extra parting shot of laughter.

Fuck’s sake. Jeonghan swallows his irritated sigh. He is not going to think about it today. He is _not_ going to think about it today. He is _not_ —

**1.**

“Put your dick back in your pants, boss-man.” Joshua’s smile is catlike, curling up his lips in the same way he creeps through the doorway into Jeonghan’s office. “No cranking it on company time, even if it’s Casual Friday.”

He’s unbelievably _smug_ about how Jeonghan’s taken his camboy recommendation for once. Jeonghan was very deliberate about not saying as such to him, but his silence must’ve been enough to clue Joshua in. He is not happy with Joshua specifically, but if the cat’s out of the bag, he’ll twist the situation in his own favor. “You won’t have company time anymore if you keep going, Joshua.”

“You’re not my boss.”

“I’m on the same level as your boss. And you’re still Admin for my department, first and foremost.”

“Potato, _potato_.” He says the second _potato_ in English, and Jeonghan resists the urge to roll his eyes. “Anyway, HR’s gone through the applicants you interviewed, blah blah—new guy starting next Monday, okay?” He throws a file on Jeonghan’s desk, and its contents fan out to make a mess. “I know you interviewed all of them yourself, but at least take a look so you remember him.”

Jeonghan snorts. Both of them know Jeonghan doesn’t just _forget_ people. “Out of my office, Shua.”

“I’ll send an email to the rest of Marketing on your behalf, Your Highness.” Joshua smacks his own ass on the way out. Good. Jeonghan doesn’t have to get up and kick him himself.

With a sigh, he opens the folder, bringing the pages back into some sort of order. _Kwon Soonyoung_ is the name at the top of the first page, his resume. Ah, Jeonghan remembers this one. Seemed a little slow, but he had the spirit. Marketing could always use a little more blindly enthusiastic yet incredibly skilled people on the team, because if Jeonghan had to pick up another Joshua (who wasn’t even technically in his department, but a little too sharp for his own good), he thinks he’d lose his mind. Someone that’s got creative energy, but someone that’ll also listen and do what he’s told.

Nothing else too notable about him outside of that, although his creative energy is definitely not just something they can write off. Soonyoung seems like a troublemaker, but not enough to kill their team. He remembers thinking in the interview that he’d get along with the rest of the team well enough.

He files Soonyoung away, yawning. With a meeting coming up before he finishes his half-day, there’s nothing that stands out enough for him to give it a second thought.

-

The best part about Fridays is this: private show with Jeonghan’s nice, fat paycheck. Whatever irritation he harbored at Joshua for being smug is gone once Hoshi starts the show, both because Hoshi is distracting enough to make him forget work and also because he does _not_ want to think about Joshua while he’s about to get his dick out.

As he settles in, Hoshi says, “I’m starting a new job on Monday. Don’t get too lonely without me, okay?” His voice is low, as if they were sharing a secret, his long, delicate fingers playing with the pillow in his lap. At the same time, there’s a tease in it, almost like he’s pouting.

He’s never seen Hoshi’s face, barely sees his shoulders if he’s lucky, but everything else he does get is more than enough to sate his boredom, among other things. He types out a whining _Hoshiiii_ , and Hoshi reads it. His laugh is light and angelic.

“Sorry, Honey. I like making you feel jealous sometimes, but you know I’ll always make time for you.” His fingers grip into the pillow and put it aside, trailing up his thigh, and that’s that. Jeonghan doesn’t think about anything else.

**2.**

Soonyoung’s a hard-working guy. Weird obsession with tigers, which he made immediately evident by bringing in a bunch of motivational posters that read _Hang in There!_. Jeonghan’s seen posters like these before, but instead of a cat stuck in a tree, it’s a tiger cub. Half of his stationary is tiger print. No one has to ask who the tiger-striped coffee mug in the break room belongs to—but hey, Jeonghan knows someone like that too. Sort of. As long as he can take the teasing from everyone well _and_ still pulls his weight, whatever he happens to like doesn’t matter one bit to Jeonghan.

What Jeonghan remembers of him at the interview matches up with what he’s like now that he’s working, except in meetings where he’s a bit more excitable. He’s got a lot of ideas, a lot of them good and a lot of them bad, but he’s overall very good at saying weird shit that gets everyone else’s brain ticking.

There’s something nagging at his mind though, something about his voice. It’s familiar in a way Jeonghan can’t quite place, like he was once Jeonghan’s regular barista or something in university. One of those voices that he used to hear often but doesn’t anymore.

It’s not until Jeonghan is talking with Soonyoung at his desk about an upcoming project that he realizes. In the middle of clearing up a misunderstanding, Mingyu passes by and decides to scare the living _shit_ out of Soonyoung while he’s in the middle of a sentence.

It’s hilarious, but Jeonghan laughs a little harder than he should, because that moment also makes him realize what Soonyoung’s voice reminds him of. It reminds him of _Hoshi’s_ voice, especially with how high-pitched his yelp got. Soonyoung apologizes, and then _Mingyu_ apologizes, since he didn’t know Jeonghan was there, but he’s feeling benevolent. He waves it off and gives Mingyu points for making him laugh.

When the conversation is over, he decides that having _Kwon Soonyoung_ remind him of Hoshi is the funniest thing he’s ever done to his libido. For the sake of his own pride, he chalks that up to people just having similar voices. It happens.

-

“I got your present, Honey,” Hoshi says at the end of the week, waving around the striped tabby cat plush holding a star. _Hoshi_ apparently doesn’t refer to the Japanese word for _star_ , but it’s still a cute present. At least, Jeonghan thinks so. “Do you think I should bring it to my new job some time?”

 _It’s a specific sort of present, isn’t it?_ He grins as he hits enter. _I kind of like the idea that you’re mine, even if others won’t recognize it._

Hoshi lets out a fake gasp. He lifts his hand, probably to cover his mouth—Jeonghan can’t see. “Possessive! I hope they do, though.”

**3.**

The worst thing about a thought is that once he gives it words, it occupies space in his mind for him to think about. _Soonyoung might be Hoshi_ was hilarious at first, but his mind latched onto it for a reason, and he’s not one to ignore his instincts.

The worst part is that the more he thinks about it, the more it makes sense. Something about Soonyoung’s build and height seems familiar, made obvious by how well he dresses every day. Jeonghan follows the train of thought and finds its source: _he sort of looks like Hoshi_ _, too_.

The revelation horrifies him. It wouldn’t be ethical consumption to watch his subordinate’s camboy porn, as— _listen_ , as good as it is. He vows not to watch Hoshi ever again, mostly because now that he knows with more than fifty percent certainty that the personality behind Hoshi is Soonyoung, and the most concise way to describe him is seriously _Gemini_. He doesn’t subscribe to horoscopes, but he’s not one to avoid being concise when there’s a pretty widespread belief on what being a Gemini means.

He sighs. It’s going to be a long day of trying to find a new camboy once he gets home, because if Soonyoung’s not open about that part of his life like Jun is (seriously, Shua, get the fucking _hint_ ), then he should respect that distance.

He ends up taking lunch late, and Hoshi— _Soonyoung_ is sitting alone at one of the tables, scribbling things on a piece of paper. Not even on his phone. He’s going at it with pen and paper. Here’s where the other less-than-fifty percent of doubt comes in; Soonyoung has been deliberately vague about his technological prowess. Jeonghan’s let it slide since it doesn’t affect his work output, but it would be strange if Hoshi could work technology well enough to be a dedicated camboy but Soonyoung typed with his pointer fingers _only_.

“Ideas for the next project,” Soonyoung says through a mouthful of food when Jeonghan sits down in front of him. God, their voices are the _exact_ same too, almost—it’s clearly a different voice for Hoshi, but he can hear the same familiar lilt to it once it reaches his higher register, the one that’s more and more common as Soonyoung gets excited. “Wanna see?”

“Lunch break,” Jeonghan says with some amusement.

“Oh. True. You’re really good at separating play and work, huh, boss?”

He raises an eyebrow. “Just take a picture and email it to the team after.”

Soonyoung’s face falls just a little bit, struggling to keep his smile on his face. “I… don’t know how to do that from my phone.”

Jeonghan tries to process what he’s just heard. “Then connect the cable to the computer and send it from there.”

“Uh… my computer’s broken?” Soonyoung says in a small voice before laughing. It sounds fake. “But don’t worry! I already called Mingyu, and he’s fixing it. He said it should be okay by the time I get back from lunch.”

“O… okay,” Jeonghan says, at a complete loss for words.

He isn’t one to doubt himself. There’s no one he trusts more than his own self, and that’s why he _always_ listens to his intuition. Sometimes his intuition doesn’t say anything nice, but that’s part of what makes his intuition so good. It doesn’t discriminate. But seriously, his intuition has to have its limits, because it’s _still_ trying to tell him that Soonyoung’s got more to him than he lets on.

It’s ringing very annoying alarm bells despite the fact that, as Jeonghan walks up to Soonyoung’s desk after lunch, he realizes that his computer still isn’t fixed. On top of that, someone’s working _very_ hard to make it work again, muttering to themselves.

“Gyu-yah,” Jeonghan calls out.

There’s a thump against the underside of Soonyoung’s desk, and one of the tiger plushes falls over sideways. (Jeonghan ignores the warning bells that ring there, too. _Annoying._ ) Mingyu lifts his head from underneath, hands covered in dust. “Jeonghan! Hi. It’s almost done.”

“I’ll hope so.” Despite his teasing, he knows Mingyu’s reliable. It’s like the company made up for assigning their department Joshua for an admin; Mingyu’s the best IT guy in the entire building, and cute to boot. “How’d it even happen?”

Mingyu’s face is a mix of trying not to laugh and _extreme_ exasperation. He seems to settle on constipation. “The only thing I could get out of Soonyoung was that he, uh. Opened Microsoft Edge?”

Jeonghan feels his eyes go wide, matching Mingyu’s expression with a disbelieving smile of his own. “Carry on, then. Whatever report you send back about the problem, I want one bcc’d. Or just tell me over a drink. Seems like you’d need it.”

“Sure, boss.” It’s cute that Mingyu calls him _boss_ when he’s not. He ducks back under the table, reaching for a cable from behind him. Jeonghan nudges it over with a foot. “None of what Soonyoung did to his computer made sense at _all_ …”

Jeonghan scratches the back of his head. Hoshi’s got automatic shoutouts and chat management and _everything_ , and not a single one of Jeonghan’s payments have gone wrong or been flagged as having any problems on his bills. Hoshi can at least do the bare minimum of operating a computer. Soonyoung _can’t_ be the same person.

**4.**

Okay. Fuck, okay. Soonyoung’s _probably_ the same person.

“Honey bunny,” Hoshi says. It sounds like the way he says _Jeonghannie_ , but with more sexual tension. “You’ve been short with me lately.” It’s a special night; not only can he see Hoshi’s shoulders, but he can also see Hoshi’s _lips_ , camera tilted up high enough to show the bottom half of his face, pout and all.

He’s wearing a touch of makeup, even though it’s his policy to never show his face in either public or private shows. That’s smart of him, but it really, really doesn’t hide the fact that Jeonghan sees that face every goddamn _day_.

 _It’s been t_ _ough at work_ _lately_ , Jeonghan types back. _Sorry, Hoshi._

“Aw, don’t apologize!” Hoshi—Soonyoung— _Hoshi_ perks back up, pout disappearing, camera panning down to its regular crop. “I just missed you is all. How about I help you destress, then?” he purrs.

God, Jeonghan’s watched those same fingers, those same thin fingers that are currently skirting over the skin of his thigh and pressing in—he’s seen those same fingers curled into his palm, all except for the index fingers, on both hands as _Soonyoung types like a fucking old man on_ _his_ _keyboard_. Jeonghan can’t take this anymore.

After this one. He _did_ pay.

And Soonyoung’s face isn’t exactly bad to look at, so he just imagines it where Hoshi’s camera crops off. It fits perfectly. Hoshi gets an extra paycheck, and Jeonghan will never do this again. He even tells Soon— _Hoshi_ at the end that this is the last one. Everyone wins.

**5.**

Except it’s probably too late. That’s _the_ striped tabby cat plush with the star, sitting right on his desk, almost two months after Jeonghan gave that to _Hoshi_.

Jeonghan has tried to ignore all the signs, but this is the last straw. Third time’s always the charm, and _that_ being the third plush to make its appearance is far from any sort of charm. This is a bad luck charm. _Omen_ , Jeonghan’s mind supplies helpfully, like finding the right words was the problem the entire time.

Right, that’s it. First order of business. He turns on his heel, planning all his next actions _perfectly_. Get back into his office, call Joshua over, and then staple his balls to the carpet until he apologizes, at which point Jeonghan will laugh and leave him there. Maybe mount his head on the wall like game.

Then, he’ll find a different camboy. He already told Hoshi that last weekend’s session was his last one, but maybe he’ll have one last session and say he got laid off or something, since he already mentioned troubles at work. Perfect.

That’s fine and dandy, except that the staff room is between Soonyoung’s desk and Jeonghan’s office, and he bumps into Soonyoung on the way out with a donut in his mouth. “Oh! Mornin’, boss. Sorry,” he says, spitting crumbs on Jeonghan’s nice button-down before wiping them off—how did he not notice with those _fingers_? No—that’s a disservice to his intuition. This is pure blind _stupidity_. He _chose_ not to notice.

He is going to _kill_ Joshua.

“You’re looking murderous today,” Soonyoung says. “You should destress. I brought cookies.” The way he says _destress_ is bringing back the wrong memories, and Jeonghan needs to ride the pure, unadulterated fury he will channel into ripping Joshua a new one.

“Correct!” He continues storming into his office. “I’ve got an admin to kill.”

It’s perhaps not unnatural for the Marketing team to witness Jeonghan’s ire, but never has he directed it at someone part of their team, unofficially or not. His smile right now could freeze over every city on the equator. It’s with great pride in that hell-raising attitude that he pokes in the familiar four number extension that goes straight to Joshua’s desk.

He picks up on the first ring. “Hey—”

“Office. Now,” he demands before hanging up. He slams the phone down on the receiver so hard that he might have broken it.

Joshua takes his _sweet_ time, walking in with a plate of cookies and a smile. They’re having a staring competition now. Joshua’s smile is much less potent, but it’s as full of mischief as Jeonghan’s is of irritation. “You seemed cranky,” he says, kicking the door closed behind him. “But Soonyoung brought cookies. They’re in your break room, did you know that?”

“I did,” Jeonghan says. “Here’s a question for you. Did you know that the camboy that you recommended to me, the one I’ve been regularly paying for the past three months”—and there’s no shame in that, really—“is Kwon Soonyoung?”

Joshua spits out his mouthful of cookies all over the carpet. He drops the plate onto Jeonghan’s table, crumbs and cookies flying everywhere, but Jeonghan keeps his stony smile as Joshua laughs. And laughs, and laughs, and opens the door and leaves the office, wheezing his very annoying American laugh. With the door open, he can see the rest of his team staring at the spectacle, caught somewhere between amusement and downright _fear_.

“Shua-yah,” Jeonghan says, raising his voice but not yelling. “Get back in here.”

He does, if only to laugh at him more. That’s fine. As funny as he finds the whole situation, he at least still knows tact; he closes the door behind him again and then collapses on the ground, smacking the carpet. “I didn’t—I didn’t know,” he manages to spit out. He sounds like he’s crying. He’s in perfect position for Jeonghan to conveniently staple his balls into place.

“Now you do. I’ve had my suspicions for a while. I had my last private show the past weekend.”

Joshua chokes on his spit with a second round of laughter. Jeonghan waits for him. He stares the entire time, although it would be a better use of time to look around the wall and see where there’s space for him to mount Joshua’s head once he’s done strangling him with his bare hands.

Wiping a tear from his eye, Joshua manages to climb into the chair in front of the desk, slumping over. His nose is clogged, and he coughs several times before saying, “That’s not a bad thing, right?”

“Explain yourself.”

“Like—holy fuck, okay. Holy fuck.” He takes a deep breath in and lets it out. It still sounds like a laugh. “It means you’ve cut ties. You’re free to, like, get to know him like a normal person at work now.”

“I would never. The line’s been crossed.”

“Okay, sure. Try this one on for size, then.” Joshua grins, which is the last thing Jeonghan sees before he blacks out (or before he’s blinded with rage, either or). “You’ve been paying with your real name the entire time, haven’t you?”

(Later that day, Mingyu has to come over to fix the phone in Jeonghan’s office, as well as fitting him with a new mouse after he broke it throwing it at Joshua to chase him out.

He strongly considers taking a half-day.)

**+1.**

There’s a knock at his door, tentative and quiet. It better be good. “Come in,” he grits out, running a hand through his hair one last time and trying to look presentable.

“Hey, boss.” Soonyoung’s voice lilts through, low and careful. Like they’re sharing a secret. Jeonghan’s too tired to berate himself for ignoring the signs any longer. “You, uh, looked like you were having a hard day.”

“Did it?” He smiles.

“Yeah. So I took a few cookies from the break room and—oh, Joshua already left some behind, huh?” Soonyoung laughs, light and careful. Jeonghan watches as he tiptoes into the office, stopping at the desk. To his bewilderment, Soonyoung starts picking up the cookies strewn across the surface and piling them on the plate, before brushing off a few crumbs away from Jeonghan. Toward himself. “Oh, I’m just getting it on the floor now, sorry—but hey, it’s a bit cleaner now, right? I know it’s been stressful lately, Hannie, but a clean workspace is the first step.”

Wait. Did he say _Hannie_ or _Honey_? Jeonghan opens his mouth and looks up, but for once, he’s at a loss for words. He’s too drained from everything to tackle this right now. “Thanks, Soonyoung.”

Soonyoung shrugs. “I didn’t think you could get angry like that. It feels like there’s a lot I don’t know about you, and I’ve been working here for… three months, now?” He sits down in the chair and grabs a cookie to bite into. “Maybe you like running a tight ship, but it seems like you’re close with everyone else in the department compared to me. You seem friendly enough.”

“Friendly.”

“Well, aside from today.” With a dopey grin, Soonyoung pushes the plate of cookies toward him. “I still wanna try and get to know you better. Your temper tantrum today won’t stop me.”

“Try again on Monday,” he says, even though Soonyoung’s presence calmed him down, despite being the cause of all his problems in the first place. “Today’s already out of the question.”

“Fair enough.” Soonyoung’s laugh really is angelic. He stands up, wiping his hands on his jeans. “Take the weekend, but on Monday, I’m taking that as an open invitation to start bugging you.”

Soonyoung does the impossible—he makes Jeonghan huff out a laugh, the last of his anger melting away. “Get out of my sight, Kwon.”

Jeonghan really hates that he’s about to take Joshua’s advice again, since that turned out _so_ well the last time—but he can’t help but think it. _You’re free to, like, get to know him like a normal person at work now._ It’s not a bad thing. Soonyoung and Hoshi _are_ separate, and Soonyoung’s a whole package all on his own.

(But if taking advice from Joshua turns out badly one more time, he’ll _really_ make good on his promise to strangle him to death.)


End file.
